Much doge, such funny... Dogecoin is a cryptocurrency that was created by two engineers in 2013 as a joke. It's a literal meme investment, themed around the OG “doge” Shiba Inu meme. Unlike bitcoin, which is capped at 21M coins, dogecoin currently has no hard cap (theoretically: unlimited supply).
- Dogecoin has massively rallied since January, when it was worth less than 1 cent. It’s up a whopping 8,000% this year, and hit a record of 45 cents last week.
- Doge Day: Doge has more than 5X’d over the past week, after an ad campaign by Slim Jim (yes, the beef jerky) set off a social frenzy to drive Doge’s price up.
Not April Fool’s Day… More like April 20. In case the nature of Doge wasn’t clear enough, certain fans are now gunning for the crypto to hit 69 cents on 4/20 (which some are calling "Doge Day”). Doge’s total market value has crossed $50B — more than Ford and DoorDash are worth. Meanwhile, celebs like Elon Musk and Snoop Dogg have been promoting doge, further fueling the social-driven buying campaign.
- In context: Stimulus checks, the rise of retail investing, and the stay-at-home life may have all contributed to Doge’s rally — as well as a growing desire to “stick it” to the Wall Street establishment.
The punchline is TBD... If Doge is a joke, then its future is determined by how long people are entertained by it. With traditional investing, people buy because they believe that the earnings and growth potential they see in an investment will drive more demand. With doge, people may buy because they believe others will buy based on a cultural fad. Investors could benefit short-term. But the long-term outcome of investing in these types of cultural assets remains unclear. Investing interest can wane as fast as it rises. From April 16 to April 17 alone, Doge plunged to nearly half its value.